happy new year !

I hope 2012 will bring you all a lot of  happiness !

handmade europe

I found these on the handmade-europe website. 

A wise advise...

More knitted xmas decorations...

little green mittens

just hanging around the house

creating some xmas atmosphere...

Just a quick knit, but so very cute to hang all around the house....   I had fun knitting these little ones !

one scarf finished !

Winnie is a regular visitor of my knitting club.  She has been working on this scarf for a while, and has finished it yesterday.  It's in 2 colours red and gray, but the wool also changes from silky to fluffy.  It is a wonderful rich effect. 
Some time ago she went to a colour analist, and learned that she's a 'cold wintertype'.  So the strong reds and cool grays are perfect colours for her, that will match with a lot of her clothes.
She's proud of that scarf and wants to share it with you all.  

posing like a true model !

There is a crochet border all around the scarf.

A warm winter scarf to be used a lot

home made xmas decorations

I have been busy making some new xmas ornaments. 
In an old magazine (2009 ! Never throw away old magazines...) I found the pattern of these angels.

With some left over wool from Zeeman, I started knitting.  All the pieces are knit seperately : the body, the arms, the sleeves, the legs, the short pants, the hands, the hat.  Next, make the heads, piece of cake compared to the teddybears.  Then you sew it all together, put some filling in and look how pretty they have become !

angel wings on their backs

one in red, with buttons and a starry staff

and one in gray, with metallic buttons sprinkled all over

The most difficult was to find the wooden stand.  Nowhere to be found in Oostende...  I had to travel to Bruges, and found it in a crafts shop called 'De Banier'.   I know, you can make it yourself.  But me, wood, and carving ,  it's not a good combination.  Murphy(*)  is always sitting on my shoulder, and I don't want to loose any fingers in the process...


 (*) Murphy, from Murphy's law - you know that guy.  When things can go wrong, they will go wrong....

my sister's new hat

My sister is the better knitter of us both.  She 's always a few steps ahead of me.  When I told her I was going to make a baret, she showed me the one she'd just finished.  
I loved the colours, it was really very fashionable. 

isn't she gorgeous ? 

When she had finished knitting it, she was a bit dissapointed with it.  Too soft, not firm enough to stay on her head as it should.  So, brave as she is, she threw it in the machine and washed it at 60 ° C.  Twice !

Now it is felted, and perfect.  It retains its shape better, and is more windproof than before. 

triangle scarf is ready !

My triangle scarf with the pompons is ready, just in time for the cold weather that has hit us.

As the rest of my country enjoyed some sunny autumn days, we at the coast area were coverd in a thick fog, with very cold temperatures. 
The weatherman called it 'inversion', meaning all the heavy clouds gathered above our heads and stayed there....   to top it all, our heating broke down, and went into 'security' so we couldn't light it up anymore, due to this bad weather.  The exhaust fumes of the burnt gas couldn't escape because of the thick fog above our house.   15 ° C in my living room.....   that called out for warm scarves.... 

It was a long time ago - but I remembered how to make pompons !

a long scarf to wind around your neck 3 times.

I found the original idea on the wonderful and inspirational blog of Norwegian Lone, at flowermouse design.